Because of having spent so much time, and set down so many words in
trying to describe how we lived when we first came to this new world, I
must hasten over that which occurred from day to day, in order to tell
you what seems to me of the most importance, without giving heed to the
time when the events took place.
I have already told you of the village at Wessagussett, which was built
by men who had been sent to this land by Master Weston, and also that
they were driven away by Captain Standish because of working so much
mischief among the Indians that our own lives were in danger.
Well, it was not long after Captain Standish had punished them,
before one and then another came back to the huts, which had been left
unharmed, and we at Plymouth learned of their doings through Samoset or
Squanto.
Had they been God-fearing people, willing to obey our laws, Governor
Bradford would have welcomed them right gladly; but because of their
refusing to do that which was right, and their giving themselves up
to riotous living, our fathers could do no less than hold them at a
distance.
Then it was that one Master Thomas Morton, calling himself a gentlemen,
who came over in the _Charity_ and had lived among us in Plymouth a
short time, much to the shame and discomfort of those who strove to
profit by the teachings of the Bible, claimed that the evil-doers
at Wessagussett were being wronged by us. He even went so far as
to tell Governor Bradford to his face that he was stiff-necked and
straight-laced, preaching what decent men could not practice.